The Story of Rhya
by TeshnaAmrion
Summary: This is based on my secondlife role play, which is based on a story I'm working on writing. This is a combination of the real story and my secondlife role play. Rhya is a Toreador Vampire based on the V:tM rules. I'm no expert at V:tM, correct if needed
1. Chapter 1

Greetings all! I'm a roleplayer in second life. My character is based on the Vampire: the Masquerade rules. She has a story behind her that I'm not able to properly express in my profile. I've been asked countless times about my RP story so here it is. :) Most of this is based on the ACTUAL story I've written about Rhya and her unlife. Names and some events have been changed to go along with the SecondLife aspect of my roleplay. This is not as detailed as the actual story I'm working on writing, but I wanted something up that was more based on my secondlife roleplay. Keep in mind I am no expert at V:tM, so if I am wrong about anything please let me know.


	2. Chapter 2

_To understand what I am now, you have to understand what I was then…_

_My name is Rhya. I no longer bare a last name. It has been lost to time. I am not even sure I could remember it if I tried._

_My story is not a glorious one. It is not about wealth and riches beyond comparison. For much of it, it is not even truly that happy._

_It is not so different from any other of my kind – heh – my kind. Those two simple words mean so little to me now._

_You see – I am not some character from a romance novel. I wouldn't even consider myself a Juliet of a tragedy, except that we have one thing in common._

_But it is my story…_

_It is my life…_

_And most importantly it is my unlife._

_It is about bonds forged in blood - bonds that cannot be broken - trust that should not be gained._

_It is not a fairy tale. Rather, it is more of a nightmare. But it is the only story I have that is worth telling…_

_When I took my first breath means little. What matters is that there was a time in which I relied upon the air around me._

_I was born a few short years after World War II. I grew up on a farm in the state of Virginia. What part is not important. Only a fraction of my existence was spent here. What matters is that you understand what I was. The farm is part of what I was._

_I don't want you to know of my past because I came from a bad family. On the contrary, my family life was quite good._

_My mother was a full blooded Japanese woman. She had come from a farming family in Japan, and would probably still be in a farming family there had she not met my father, an Irishman who also came from a long line of farmers. Farmers and brute warriors._

_That's what I was. I was a child of brute, drunken, and yet noble, honorable, farming ancestry. An odd combination, I agree. But what my parents had was love. Their differences didn't matter to them. They were in love with each other from the day they met till the day they died._

_I always admired my mother. She came to this country just after World War II. She was the bravest woman I know, coming here at a time when her heritage was not looked so kindly upon. Pearl Harbor wasn't all that distant of a memory in the eyes of many Americans._

_I had an older sister named Alannah. We were the best of friends. Even before I could walk or talk my parents said that there was a special bond between the two of us. My sister looked after me. If I fell, she was the one there to help me up. If I cried, she was the one there to comfort me. She was also the one I got into trouble with. She was the one who taught me how to keep a straight face when we were trying to pull off some elaborate story as to how the door to the hen house got left open._

_She is why I want you to know of my past. The bond that we shared is what is so important to me. It is the reason I am the – creature – I am today._


	3. Chapter 3

_My childhood wasn't exactly a bad one. At least not at home. Our parents loved us and encouraged us. You see, when we were little, Alannah and I created characters of our own, people we could put our imaginations into. People we could relate to. I created a woodland el, druid named Enyo Brashmar. Scarlet created a half-elf paladin named Scarlet Quarin. We would roam about the woods outside our farm and live out the lives of these two characters. Of course, in doing that we either never got our chores done, or we would cause more damage and give ourselves more to do the next day. But we didn't care._

"Come on girls, time to get cleaned up!" Sayuri called out to her two daughters. She was cleaning her hands off on a her apron as she watched and waited for the two girls to round the corner. "Alannah! Rhya! Come on! It's getting late!"

She could hear their whispering from around the corner. This normally meant the two were going to have to be hosed off before they would even be allowed in the house. She sighed to herself and stepped out onto the porch, pretending she didn't know where the two were.

After another round of giggles, Alannah suddenly jumped from around the corner, a stick in her hand that she waved around like a sword. As she figured, the child was covered from head to toe in dirt and mud, just as she normally was when the two girls played this game.

"Stop right there monster! Ye've caused enough damage for one day!" she yelled, pointing her sword stick at her mother.

"Oh no! I didn't think you'd find me!"

Sayuri turned to try to run the other way, but there stood Rhya on top of a barrel, her fingers dancing about as if she were trying to weave a magic spell.

"You won't escape from us this time!" Rhya grinned.

"What am I going to do now?!"

"You can't run! I'll root you to the ground!"

"I'll use my fire breath to burn through the roots!"

She was tapped on the leg by the stick sword from behind her.

"You forgot about me didn't you?" Alannah asked with a smirk on her face.

"This is hardly fair. It's two against one!"

"Try two against two!" Patrick growled. He grabbed Rhya and tossed her on his shoulders before bending down and picking Alannah up and carrying her under his arm. "You two should think twice before picking a fight on my witch."

"She's not a witch dad, she's a dragon!" Rhya scolded him.

"Eh, tomato, tomato," he joked, saying the word two different ways. Sayuri gently smacked her husband's arm as they took the girls around the side of the house to hose them down.

_It was those days that I long for the most. Things were simple then, as they are for most children. It was before either of us were in school. We were allowed to let our imaginations run rampant. Time is supposed to make me forget – or so I had been told. But there were things in my life that I would remember for centuries to come._

_During these times, Alannah and I began to come up with our own little world. Our own characters which we pretended we were. Even at such a young age, our stories were elaborate and thought out. I was a magical elf, that became a wood elf druid named Enyo. She was a warrior, that eventually became a half elf paladin named Scarlet. We even created our own language that no one else would ever be able to understand_

_We were more than sisters. More than friends. We were bound in blood and soul._

_Each day as we did our chores, or attempted to do our chores, we would usually end up playing our own little games, and normally ended up causing more work for us the next day._

_It was these days that I last remember being happy._

_Within a few months, Alannah was off for her first day at kindergarten. I was to spend the days at home, alone with my mother. It would be another two years before I would be going to school with Alannah. I'll never forget that first day my sister left for school. She left with both of us in tears, but by the time she came back, she was the only one crying._

_She told mom the other kids picked on her. We didn't realize it yet, being as secluded on the farm as we had been, but we weren't like anyone else. Our mother was Asian, and we carried those traits. She said they teased her for the way she looked. For her black hair, her olive skin tone, and for her eyes. We knew of prejudice, we just never imagined it would happen to us._

_Alannah was forced to face that nightmare day after day. After our parents went to the teacher, she then got teased for being a tattle tale. There was always something. Alannah began to become detached. She began to get angry much easier. At first she even had little patience for me and our old games._

_After Christmas, Alannah got in her first fight. She won the fight, but that only made things worse. Because we were among the few that grew up on and worked a farm, we were probably stronger than others our age. She grew to be a bully because of this strength. The kids stopped picking on her in front of her face though. And that made her calm down and the relationship between us again became that which it used to be._

_When it was my turn to go to school, I had the reputation of my sister to proceed me, which was probably my saving grace. I was a runt. I also resembled my mother more than Alannah did. Alannah looked tanned by the sun, I had a distinct olive tone. I had a more distinct slant of the eyes._

_I heard the whispers of the other children, though nothing was ever said to my face. I made no friends. I kept to myself and kept quiet. Many teased that I was a mute because of this. The only thing that kept them from teasing me to my face was the fact that many had an elder sibling that knew my sister. Surely the sister of Alannah would be just as tough._

_No. The sister of Alannah was weak and quiet. Alannah kept me safe those years we were in school together. But once she moved on to the next, it wasn't long before the whispers became loudly spoken words. Words I had to put up with and act like I couldn't hear each and every day._

_It was in these days that I first began to pour my heart out into my art. I put those characters Alannah and I came up with on paper. I gave them shape and forms as we gave them personalities. They turned into little comics that I would let only my family read. The one time I took them to school with me, one of the other kids stole it from me, and they teased me about it for weeks to come._

_During this time I also first began to play music. My mother had learned to play when she was young and she wanted the same for us. I chose to learn several instruments, some from my Japanese heritage. I loved them all, but my favorite was the flute. Its sound spoke my words for me. Its mellow voice sounded out my heart's emotions. I was taught at home by a friend of my father's. It was the one person outside of my family that hadn't laughed at me. She thought I was a beautiful girl, and kept telling me that every day. She was the only one._

_So I waited. I waited patiently till my sister and I were together again. I waited till the day that I could go through the day without hearing the laughter and whispers, without seeing the looks and the fingers pointing._

_By that time Alannah had become quite the bully and trouble maker. She was always in detention or suspended. No one picked on her anymore, but she had become so much of a bully that she just liked to start problems now. She started to hang with the rougher crowd, the ones that were always getting into things they shouldn't be. I didn't fit into her world anymore, not while we were at school. She would still look out for me but I tried to stay away from her friends._

_I joined the band and finally made my first friends. They were like me in the sense that they got teased every day too. They were labeled as different for some reason, just as I had been. I never was entirely sure what made us so different, aside from my appearance, but we didn't fit in with the 'cool kids' and so we weren't worth the attention, except when they decided to point and laugh at us._


	4. Chapter 4

_My eighth grade year, Alannah's tenth, the world began to change. Alannah had been experimenting in drugs and alcohol. She hooked up with some boy named Tommy. He was a senior and there was something about him that I just didn't like. He was rough, not just a bully but he was rough with her too. She didn't seem to mind so I let it go most days._

_Then she started sneaking out. I could only imagine what she was doing, rather, I didn't want to imagine what she was doing. She was falling into a world that I couldn't follow her. Our bond, our blood, our souls were bound but this was a world I refused to be a part of. I was losing my best friend to the darkness. If only I knew then just how much the darkness would take us both._

_Each night, she would sneak out when our parents had gone to bed and she would come back early, around four in the morning. One night though, not long before Christmas, she didn't come back. By five o'clock I started getting worried. I acted like I was going to go tend to some of the farm animals incase my parents should wake up and I went looking for her._

_I climbed up the hill to the barn, hoping that my fears were wrong. That's when I heard it though. I heard the sob. I opened the door slowly and whispered her name so she wouldn't get scared. She didn't answer back, but I heard her cry again._

_I found her in the far corner of the barn. Her clothes were torn and bloody. Her body was bruised and beaten and her face was stained with tears. Tommy had done this to her, I knew he had. I'd never seen my sister such a mess before. She'd always been the strong one and now she was the one falling to pieces._

_I fell to my knees and held tight to my sister. The sky was starting to lighten, and our parents would be up soon. I wanted to get them, to have them help her, but she refused. 'They can't know. This is my problem,' she said to me. She made me promise, against my better judgment, that I wouldn't say a thing to anyone. And so, I didn't._

_Alannah didn't break up with Tommy. He had this hold over her that she couldn't escape. I alone had to watch her, knowing what he was doing to her. I grew frustrated, angry even. I began to become less patient, my art more aggressive, and my tongue sharper. It was eating away at me slowly. I started to snap back at all the kids that teased me._

_At first it was just words, but one day I was pushed over the edge. A classmate dared to make a reference to a war that neither of us had been alive to see. He dared to call me a murderer when my family had nothing to do with what had happened. He called my mother a whore, my sister a worthless slut and my father a bastard._

_I remember seeing red and seeing myself beat him senseless in my mind. It wasn't till I felt the hands grasping at my arms that I realized that wasn't in my mind. I had literally beaten the kid. His nose ran red with blood, his reddened cheeks streaked with tears. I could see scratches on his face, his neck and his arms. I held a chunk of his hair in my hand. I never knew I had the strength to cause so much damage._

_It was that day that the truth came out. It was too unlike me to lash out as I had. My parents knew something had been eating away at me, and they sat Alannah and I both down till we finally told the truth._

_As if I didn't already have the utmost respect for my parents, I gained a bit more that day. I figured for sure we would have gotten beaten for this stunt. But we didn't. They were calm and caring, and comforting. They were understanding._

_After that day, Alannah ended it with Tommy. She stopped experimenting with drugs, she stopped drinking for a while. Her life began to get better. Mine however was starting to get worse. Now I was seen to be as much of a bully as Alannah. But for so many years those kids just openly harassed me that beating a classmate till his nose broke wasn't going to keep them quiet. They feared me as much as they hated me. What's worse, none of them really even knew me. Heh, story of my life._

_As much as I hated this new reputation I'd earned, at least I was able to use it in a good way. People like me, people who were shunned by the "cool kids" turned to me and my friends. For some reason they thought I could protect them. I hated the name I'd earned for myself, but if it worked, and others were able to find peace at my side, I suppose it was worth it._

_In those last two years we had together in school, before Alannah graduated, our differences began to ring clear. I was firm in my beliefs, but I was less vocal than my older sister. We both had a love for music, but we expressed ourselves with it in different ways. My mind stayed in some other world, some world of fantasy. Alannah sent herself to a fantasy land with drugs. Mostly, Alannah wasn't ashamed of who she was. I, however, wished I could be someone else every single moment of my life._

_Those first two years of high school were mostly uneventful. I was in the background. For the first time in years I wasn't openly teased. The kids finally just let me go about my business. I focused myself completely in art and music. Those two original characters that Alannah and I had come up with were now complex characters with backgrounds and stories to go along with them. They had more companions. I was developing quite the collection of stories, though none of them were ever actually written out in its entirety. I learned a lot about myself those two years. But I learned even more in the two to come._

_During my high school years, I performed with the school band and the town orchestra. I wasn't the best musician there had ever been, but I put my whole heart into my music. Alannah once told me that it both put a smile on her face and tore at her heart to hear me play. She said that she could feel my pains and hear my thoughts when I played. The notes were my tears, she said to me, and my song a solemn one._

_Alannah moved out shortly after graduation to give college a try. She wasn't looking forward to it, but she didn't want to have to rely on someone else to survive, especially since her taste in people wasn't always of the conventional nature._

_I was alone now. I had no rock to support me, no shoulder to cry on, and no ear to turn to. For the first time in my life I had to learn to truly stand on my own two feet. Little did I realize how closely I would follow in Alannah's foot steps. I didn't live her life, mind you. There were never drugs. There was no alcohol. I knew I needed to stay focused to get out of the life I was stuck in. I would however learn about the desire to take care of yourself, the need to not rely on anyone._

_In that year, I dated the most unlikely person ever. I'm still not sure what possessed me to do it, it was a match that even hell would think was a cruel joke. Why I dated him isn't really what is important. The important fact is that I did. The important thing is to see the person he made me become._

_He was a football player, a benchwarmer rather and his name was Steven. He wasn't a dream come true or anything. He was just there I suppose. Only my second real boyfriend. At first nothing seemed wrong about the match. There were no problems. But slowly, with out me even realizing it at the time, he pulled me farther and farther away from my friends till there was only him in my life. Then came the demands. Telling me how I should cut my hair, telling me that I couldn't get glasses even if I only needed them to read because he didn't date girls with glasses. Eventually I couldn't even talk to anyone else without him getting angry with me._

_Then came the day that I first realized I was walking in Alannah's shoes. The first time he ever struck me, he claimed it was an accident. He had been shadow boxing and swung and caught me right on the jaw. It wasn't hard or anything, but it frightened me at first. I trusted him though after he apologized. The next time though…it was no accident. That rule he had about not dating girls with glasses apparently meant more to him than I realized. He broke the glasses while I was still wearing them. It didn't stop there. He would hit me for any little thing he possibly could._

_I had always vowed I wouldn't be found beaten, bloody, and crying in the barn like Alannah had. But I guess there are some aspects of ones fate that you just can't control. He got tired of me resisting his advances. "I have needs," he would say. "Needs that you are supposed to fulfill." When I didn't take care of his needs willingly, he forced me to. I had never been touched by a man in that way before. It wasn't a pleasant experience at all. I never wanted to be touched in that way again._

_Now I was the one crying in the barn, my clothes torn and soaked in my own blood. The bruises showing clearly when the moon hit my flesh. There was no sister to come to my side though. My sister had left me. I was alone._

_I didn't leave the house for the next few days. I was feeling ill. Knowing as little as I did then, I feared the worst, feared that I'd bare that monster's child and be stuck with him for the rest of my life. I had no other options if that was the case. Now though, I realize that the feeling was a sickness with myself. I had once broken a kid's nose and fractured his cheekbone, and yet here I was being a submissive puppet to this bastard. Looking back at that time, I'm still sick with myself. I suppose we all have 20/20 hindsight though._

Rhya lay in her bed each night and cried herself to sleep. Three nights after she needed her rock, it finally came. Alannah had heard from their parents that Rhya wasn't feeling well. She heard from a friend about the rumor of what Rhya's relationship with Steven was really like.

She crept into the bedroom quietly, looking concerned as she sat down on the bed beside Rhya. In an instant though that expression changed. Alannah violently shook Rhya and slapped her.

"Look at me damn it!" Alannah yelled. Rhya wouldn't and Alannah shook her again. "God damn it Rhya you're not supposed to do this shit!"

"Like you're one to talk!" Rhya blurted out.

"I am one to talk! You're supposed to learn from my mistakes you idiot! That's why I was first. You shouldn't have to be as strong as I am. You're supposed to see what I did wrong and take a better path! You're better than me damn it! You're smarter and more talented, you're not supposed to make the same dumb choices I did!"

"But you're not here for me to learn from anymore, are you?!"

"Is that what this is all about?"

"I'm alone onesan. Mom and dad don't understand me like you do. There's no one else for me to turn to, to talk to."

"You know, you could always call."

"It's not the same!"

"I know," Alannah said quietly. She pulled Rhya up and hugged her tightly. Rhya was trembling. Her little sister was hurt and scared and she felt responsible.

"I don't like being without you."

"We need to be though. Soon enough we'll be together again. But in the meantime, you're to get rid of this idiot and take better care of you. You've never felt the need to be in a relationship before, why now?"

"Aren't you listening to me? I'm alone!"

"And tell me, does he fill that emptiness? Is his companionship worth all this?"

Rhya didn't answer. She looked out the window into the dark night.

"I'm here for you now. I'm staying here a few days till you get back on your feet. But you have to learn from what I did wrong. I'm supposed to protect you, and right now the only way I can is reminding you how you that you don't have to walk my footsteps."

_She didn't leave my side that night. I fell asleep with her hugging onto me, and woke up the same way. The next day she stood beside me when I finally stood up to Steven. He made a move like he was going to strike me, but thought better. He knew of Alannah's reputation. He knew he was tough but it was two against one, and Alannah had beaten people bigger than him before._

_I believed it was over. A piece of my heart had been darkened but now things were going to get better. Even when Alannah wasn't by my side, I had her strength, her support. I made it through the rest of my high school years without another incident. I didn't even have to hear the remarks about my heritage as often anymore. Each year, as time passed and hearts mended, it got better and better for my kind. Though you still couldn't walk down the street without the eyes watching your every move._

_By the time I got to college, Alannah had given up. We moved in together for some time, but she joined a band and began to travel from gig to gig with them. I was even more alone now than I had been before. I had given up music after I graduated high school, so now my art was my passion. It was my major, my hobby, my entire life. I didn't spend time with my classmates. I didn't go to parties. I sat at home and immersed myself in my art._


	5. Chapter 5

_Each year Alannah and I went to visit our parents for holidays and birthdays. It was the only time that I felt complete. The year of 1973 was no different than any other year. As always, we both went home for Christmas. If I had known then what I do now – well – I suppose I wouldn't do things any differently._

_Our mother had been growing weak and ill for the past couple years now. It was cancer, and it was taking its toll on her. These times at home meant more than they ever had before. We didn't know when the family would no longer be whole._

_Alannah and I were in the basement playing some music, goofing off, catching up a bit on things we missed in the other one's life. It was a happy time. I was going to be graduating that year. Alannah's band was doing very well. I had even met someone that year, another of Japanese heritage. His name was Katsuo and only he had been able to fill some of the void that my heart felt when my sister wasn't near. For the first time since I had been a child, I was actually feeling happy._

_We heard a noise come from upstairs. Thinking our mother had fallen or knocked something over, we headed up the stairs to make sure she hadn't hurt herself. What we saw that night still haunts my dreams._

_We opened the door, smiles on our faces till we looked in disgust at some creature latched on to our father's neck. Our mother lay lifeless, butchered on the ground. This man, this THING was feeding on our father's blood. We realized he was still alive. His eyes were rolled back, looking straight at us. His mouth was open as if he were trying to scream, but he was unable to. Neither of us could make a sound, but as if the creature could see what our father was seeing through his blood, his eyes fixed themselves on us. Those dark, demonic eyes. They seemed to be grinning._

_The creature dropped our father and stood upright. We slammed the door shut, locked it and ran back down the stairs. Alannah headed for our father's guns._

"_What are you doing?!" I yelled at her as I headed for the way out. I never made it to the door though. I ran into another man, a kinder looking man. He smiled at me for a moment, but it changed to panic the instant our parents' murder burst through the door and made it to the bottom of the stairs. The kinder man grabbed a hold of me tightly. I could feel the monster's eyes burning into me. It made me want to cry and yet I couldn't look away._

_Our concentration was broken by Alannah who shot a bullet into the heart of the monster that had killed our parents. I felt relief for a moment, till I heard it laugh. 'What is this thing?' I thought to myself. The monster grabbed Alannah and pulled her to him._

"_Let her go!" the kinder man demanded._

"_You got what you wanted. This is where we go our separate ways," the monster replied, his words laughing. The last thing I remember was seeing Alannah being carried away, and then my world went black._

_My head throbbed as I started to come to. I was hungry, thirsty, and in pain. I heard a fire crackling not far from me, but I still felt the chill of winter all the way to my bones. It was dark out. I don't know if it was the same night or if some time had passed._

_Pulling myself up, I saw I was in a run down, empty room. I couldn't see the silhouettes of the mountains outside. Where was I? Surely if I were still in Virginia, I'd see the mountains._

_Looking around I didn't see anything or anyone else. As my eyes adjusted though, I could barely make out the form of the kinder man. He was watching my every move._

He sat, unmoving, not making a single sound. Rhya could hear her heart pounding in hear ears. Suddenly this kinder man was starting to scare her.

"What do you want with me?" she demanded. "Where's my sister?"

"You must forget you ever had a sister. She cannot be trusted now," he replied calmly, but in a stern, serious manner.

"Why?"

"You'll understand in time."

"Where are we?"

"That is not important."

"What's going on? Why did you bring me here?"

"Because you are about to die. Whether or not you continue to exist or whether you give up and meet the eternal rest is up to you. But your heart will stop beating tonight."

Rhya didn't know what to say. A small part of her wanted to laugh, but the rest of her knew this man was serious. Fear overcame her. She wondered if Alannah was going through the same thing. She wondered if her sister would be given this choice, and which choice would she pick if she had it.

"Why are you letting me choose?" was the first thing Rhya could think to ask.

"Because I didn't have the choice. I will not do that to you. But you are in the middle of a war and you know too much. I'm sorry you have to die so young. We had hoped to give you more time, but there is no other choice now."

"We?"

"Surely you know what I am. I know you've been fascinated by my kind for years."

"That thing, he was drinking blood. Are you really a vampire?"

The man leaned forward, the fire casting a soft light onto his pale, flawless skin. She wanted to scream, but at the same time she couldn't. She could tell this man was kind, that he was sincere.

"What do you mean you wanted to give us more time?"

"We have been watching you for many years now. Since you were a child. We had planned on bringing you and your sister into our ranks, but it seems another clan had the same idea."

"Clan?"

The man nodded.

"I am from the Toreador clan. The thing that took your sister is from the Brujah. Brutes and nothing more. If she should survive this, you cannot trust her any longer."

"Just because she's from another clan?"

"It's more complicated than that dear. Some day I'll explain it to you, but morning will be here soon and you have a choice to make."

Rhya didn't know what to think. She couldn't think. She was within minutes of her death, how was she supposed to act?

"Can't you decide for me?"

"I won't. I'm sorry. I know it must be a hard decision to make."

Rhya let many things run through her mind. Could she really choose to end her existence? She couldn't even say goodbye to Katsuo or her friends. She hadn't been able to say goodbye to her parents or her sister. Her sister. Alannah. Surely Alannah would be turned. 'I should be turned and find her' Rhya thought to herself, totally ignoring this man's warnings that she shouldn't trust her sister anymore. But how long would that take? What would happen if she did find her? And till then…

"What is troubling you?" the man asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"I'll be alone."

"You will never be alone again. I will be your sire. I will always be there for you, to protect you, to talk to, to be there when you need it. Whatever you should need, I will do all I can for you."

"Does this make me your slave?"

"Not exactly. I will explain things to you better, should you choose that path."

She paused again, not knowing how to make this choice. She didn't want to cease to exist, but could she really make it as a vampire? Can she really survive without Alannah? Alannah…

"I want to exist," Rhya said suddenly and firmly.

"You're sure? You're absolutely positive?"

"No, but that's my choice."

"Very well then."

The kinder man stood and walked over to her. He held out his hand with a smile on his face and asked "Would you like to dance?"

Reluctantly she took his hand and let him help her to her feet. He held her close, one hand around her waist, the other holding firmly to her hand. His touch was cold. Of course, he was dead. What else had she honestly expected.

They danced in silence for a moment. Rhya's thoughts were racing in her head.

"Is this going to hurt?" she asked quietly.

"Not if you don't fight me. It's actually quite a pleasant experience, but frightening to feel yourself die," he said in the friendliest tone she'd heard him use yet. "You will be unconscious for a while. You should easily sleep through the day though. This will help you adjust to your new 'schedule'. I will be here though, watching over you. You have nothing to fear. When you awaken, you will feel hungry. Probably a hunger like you have never before felt. You must learn to control this. It will take time to sate your need to feed. But most importantly you MUST remember to never kill your victim. It will not only raise too many questions if we leave people dead in the streets, but you will also fall victim to the beast within you."

"The beast?"

"In time dear Rhya."

"I don't even know your name."

"My name is Bugstomper. The rest you will learn in time. I apologize that you do not get the chance to say goodbye to the sun, to those you care about. But this is how it must be."

"There is no one left now."

"There is us. You have no need to fear the emptiness."

"No offense but you're not Alannah."

"Time heals wounds."

"Do you really believe that?"

"No. But I was hoping it would help."

They danced again in silence for a moment. Bugstomper could sense the daylight coming soon. To Rhya, it was still the dark night, but he could see the beginning of sunset, the time when vampires began to tuck themselves in for the day.

"Its time," he said softly. Rhya looked to him for a moment, her thoughts trying to organize themselves. She nodded her head and prepared herself for what was to come.

Gently, he tilted her head to the side and brushed her hair away from her neck. He slowly leaned forward. To Rhya, it was agonizingly slow. She could hear her heart thumping in her ear. There was no breath on her neck as he drew near. His lips were cold against her skin and then she felt it. She felt his fangs pierce through her skin. For a brief moment she felt pain. What she felt after that could not be described with words. It was a mix of panic and a soothing feeling at the same time.

Her heart began to slow as he drank her life away. She suddenly grew scared. She knew the end was near and her greatest fear was that he was playing a cruel joke. That he was going to kill her no matter what and he had just taunted her with a chance to keep existing. She feared for her sister. For a moment she even feared for Katsuo. She wanted that goodbye after all.

The world around her began to grow dark. She knew it was coming. Even if he had every intention of killing her, she was welcoming it now. Just before she felt her heart stop, he pulled away from her neck. Holding her up with one arm, he bit into the flesh of his wrist, the blood gushing out as he quickly put it to her lips telling her to drink.

Without thinking, she obeyed. The blood was warm still and flowed down her throat. She felt some form of life start to return to her, but there was no more beating heart. She held firmly to his wrist, taking the blood willingly, needing it. Craving it. Bugstomper's eyes rolled back as he the blood leaving him.

"Enough," he commanded when she had taken enough. She didn't want to stop though. He told her to stop again. This time she pulled away. His raised tone brought her back to her senses. She looked at him again, her eyes seeing as they never had before. The world was no longer dark to her. For the first time she actually got a good look at Bugstomper. He was much taller than her. A thin, but muscular man. His hair was black and messy, obviously styled that way on purpose. His eyes were dark. Were they dark before? She couldn't remember.

She could hear things, sounds coming from outside. Things she couldn't have possibly heard before. She was now dead, and she felt more alive than ever.

The world began to grow dark and fuzzy again. It suddenly occurred to her that she wasn't breathing. Feeling the need to breath but no longer having the ability, she began to panic. She grasped Bugstomper's arm for support as she slowly slipped into unconsciousness.


	6. Chapter 6

_Bugstomper had warned me. He told me I'd feel a hunger like no other hunger I'd felt before after I woke up. It was painful and maddening. I lashed out against him when I first came to. My senses were confusing me. I was hearing and seeing the world differently. My sense of smell was no longer the same. Things felt differently. I couldn't wrap my head around it, and the hunger. Gods the hunger I felt. Was this what I had to look forward to for the rest of eternity?_

_Bugstomper took me out into the night. It no longer felt cold. I was dead. I didn't need the warmth anymore. He told me I had to find my own victim. 'No one can see you feed. And remember, you must not kill them,' he warned me. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to know when they were near death, but the hunger was overwhelming me and I didn't care._

_As we walked the streets, a smell suddenly came to me. My head turned in the direction I sensed it coming from. I saw the smile on his face just before I took off in that direction. I could see a group of men before Bugstomper suddenly cut me off._

'_Stop. Remember what I told you,' he scolded. 'You can't even show the slightest hint that anything is wrong. Use your charisma, your charm to lure one away.'_

_I growled. I actually GROWLED at him. I was hungry. I didn't care about these games. I was hungry!_

_He watched me closely. He knew not to trust me yet. He was right. There wasn't a chance in hell I was going to listen to him._

_I walked up to the three men slowly, calmly._

'_Please sirs, have you seen my brother?' I asked them. 'We got separated and now I cannot find him.'_

_I saw their grins. I knew what was on their minds. The bigger of the three walked away from the group and toward me. He told me he'd help me find my brother, that I shouldn't be walking out in the streets all by myself, being such a pretty little girl and all._

_The moment we got out of sight and into an alley, he threw me against a building. He didn't expect me to fight back though. I twisted his arm and brought him to his knees. As I loomed by his neck I suddenly stopped. I was about to drink his blood. Somehow that thought hadn't occurred to me last night. I hesitated and the man grabbed at my hair. I screamed out at him and slammed his head into the ground._

'_What are you waiting for?' I heard Bugstomper snap. I hesitated again but finally bit into the man's neck. The hunger was going away as I drank his blood. I kept drinking, and drinking. Drinking more and more. Not paying attention to the obvious signs that the man was dying. Bugstomper had to pull me off him and carry me off to get me to stop. I was still hungry though. But at the same time, I was sick. We'd barely made it away before I collapsed to my knees and threw blood back up._

"What the hell have you done to me?!" she screamed.

"It was your choice, not mine," Bugstomper said.

Something in her snapped. Her eyes fixed on him, her look angry, stinging at his un-beating heart.

"So that's why you wanted me to choose? So your conscience would be clear?!"

"You think it's clear?! I have to watch you suffer knowing that even though it was your choice, I did this to you! You had no clue what you were getting into. And I chose you damn it! It's because of me that you're the creature you are!"

Suddenly she began to feel bad for him. He had to watch this every single time he turned someone. Surely that couldn't be an easy thing to do.

"You have to learn when to stop," he said finally. "The more you feed and kill, the more you feed your inner beast. When it is strong enough, it will take over you, and our way of life could be destroyed if a vampire ran rampant like that."

"But that one – that killed – "

"To him, your parents were in the way. They must have seen him and he ignored the rules of the Camarilla and killed them."

"The Camarilla?"

"It is the legion of undead. Though not all claim to be part of it, it claims every vampire as a member of its ranks. Because you are untrained in your abilities, right now I want you to trust no other vampire but myself and any I may tell you are safe, like those of our clan. Some that do not follow the ways of the Camarilla are likely to attack you in the open."

"So clans get along so long as they follow the Camarilla rules?"

"They have their issues with one another, but those that accept the rules of the Camarilla will not break what we call the Masquerade."

"What's that?"

"It is how we sustain our way of life. It is why we can feed on people and society doesn't know we exist. We are not to let any kine, or mortals that is, know of our existence. There was once a great war that nearly wiped out the vampire race. We don't want that to happen again."

"I still feel hungry," she said, after taking his words into consideration for a moment.

"You will for a while. This is the first test: resisting the beast. Some vampires do not resist this urge so well. They kill their victims and they over indulge. I don't expect you to flawlessly pass this. That is why I am here. That is partly why the Camarilla do not want us to sire someone unless we have permission. We don't want over population and we don't want vampires running around under the control of their beast."

Rhya looked up into the night sky. Night wasn't so dark anymore. She saw as well as she would have in the daylight. Her senses were stronger. Things affected her differently. She remembered the man she'd fed from. She smelled his blood, heard his heartbeat before she even came near him.

"Is Alannah suffering as I am?"

"I told you –"

"I can't just forget about her! She's my sister! We're bound in blood and soul!"

"You are no longer bound in blood. There is nothing to tie you to her now except a name that will be lost to time."

'We'll always be bound,' Rhya thought to herself. She was sad at the thought of never getting to see Alannah again. They had been best friends.

"Come. You need to feed more," Bugstomper said after a few moments of silence. He knew what she had been thinking. He knew her sister could be the fall of yet another chylder.

_I fed again that night. Two more times. Each time I had to be pulled off my victim. Each time I threw up afterwards._

_I still felt this overwhelming hunger. But dawn was nearing. We wandered back to the empty house that night. In the attic of the old house were several coffins._

"_This is a safe house for us. Often times one will come here to embrace a kine," he explained to me._

_The realization that I was dead finally occurred to me. I suddenly felt sad and afraid, yet alive all at the same time._

_Reluctantly, I crawled into the coffin my sire had opened for me. I'm not entirely sure I slept at all that day. Or for the next several for that matter. I had a lot running through my mind. But the one thought that hurt the most, was the thought that I'd never see my dear sister again._


	7. Chapter 7

_Dracula had not prepared me for the unlife. I was a monster now. And yet…I felt enlightened, uplifted – alive._

_I never thought the hunger would subside. But it did. In time. I also learned to control myself. To listen to and obey the signs of death in my victim. Never again would Bugstomper have to pull me off my victim, at least, not out of desperation to feed. _

_Feeding off the blood of mortals was something that would take me years to adjust to. But I not only had to learn to deal with what I was, I had to learn the rules of existing as what I was. A vampire._

_After my hunger began to subside, my sire and I began our trek back to New York, where the rest of his family and clan were living, or existing I should say. We traveled by night, taking what ever means of transportation we could._

_During our journey, he began to explain things to me. Things I would need to know. First – he explained exactly what I was…_

"You are a part of a large network of creatures that exist in secrecy. Well – for the most part. We exist in the shadows to protect ourselves more than to protect the kine. There was a great war once, in a time when we lived in the open. Our way of life was nearly destroyed. And so we sought to the shadows," Bugstomper explained as they sat in the darkness of a semi truck. "The Camarilla created rules to live by. Traditions as we have come to call them. Each tradition is to be followed strictly or it could mean final death."

"What about those other ones you told me about?"

"The Camarilla expects all undead to follow its rules, but as always, there are those who refuse to conform. Something that I honestly fear from you at times. Your dislike of conformity was the one thing that kept the prince from allowing me to sire you. It, as well as your temper and your reputation is what caught the attention of those that took your sister. But I'm getting off the point.

"The Sabbat is a sect that will intentionally go against the ways of the Camarilla. They are barbaric and live in the times before the war. They thrive to spill blood, be it the blood of kine or the blood of another kindred. They don't care.

"There are others who don't conform, but I'm not as concerned with them as I am with the Sabbat. You are not to interact with them if you can help it."

"How will I know though?"

"You have a special ability now. It allows you to sense things about other kindred, like if they've committed diablerie."

"Diablerie?"

"In time dear. I don't want you to overload yourself trying to learn this. I realize things will be hard for you at first, but that is what I am here for. I also want you to realize, and make sure you learn that your sister is no longer your family. She is one of those that you must avoid at all costs now."

"But she's my sister. She won't hurt me."

"They have ways of breaking a person."

_I now feared for my sister's fate. What hells was she going through. Did she have someone as kind as Bugstomper guiding her? Did she have anyone really guiding her or was she forced to learn on her own? The more he talked about these Sabbat, the more determined I grew to find my sister again and rescue her from this fate. I knew my sister. I knew she wouldn't kill me like he said she would_

_He explained to me the significance of the clans, and the differences between them, telling me certain ones I should try to avoid if I could help it. I learned that it was a Bruja clan that had taken my sister and had tried to take me. I learned that they were incredibly good fighters, and that my clan tended to be weaker fighters, relying more on agility and speed than brute strength._

_During our trek to my new home, I learned the hierarchy of our city. I learned that my sire was the Archon of the Toreador, and his wife was the Justicar. They were elders. I felt like this put more pressure on me to learn things and behave properly, but I couldn't listen to the warnings he gave me when it came to my sister. Would I disappoint him in the end?_


End file.
